Caged With The Alien Warrior

06.

"How do you know that?" she bit down on her bottom lip, white teeth dragging over the dark pink of her lip. She had fangless, dull teeth. Really, how did she protect herself?

I tapped my eye with the enhanced implant to answer her question.

"You have a bionic eye?" Her voice rose in pitch. "Whoa."

I did not know what this bi-an-ik meant, but she understood the gist of it.

She turned to face the wall, still lying on the cot. "So, what're you doing here?" she asked again.

"I'm here to rescue my cousin."

She let out a tinkling laugh that sent shivers up my spine. "Well, you're stuck in here with me, so clearly, you're doing a real bang-up job of that."

I stiffened. "I deliberately let the Szenists capture me so my crew could track me here." Why did I feel the need to explain myself to her?

She snorted. "You deliberately landed yourself here?"

I already explained that to her, yes.

"Any you?" I asked.

"They abducted me and brought me to this hell." She wrapped her arms around herself, curling inwards.

"We're in hell, and I'm trapped with a seven-foot-tall demon," she added so quietly that I wouldn't have heard if I didn't have enhanced hearing.

I didn't know what hel or demen meant, but I gathered that it wasn't positive. I hated that she had all these unfamiliar words, and my translator would not offer suggestions. That had never happened before. They were words new to the Intergalactic Alliance. It had been centuries since new planets with new words were found.

So many questions swirled in my head. She clearly was imprisoned here against her will. Where was she from? How was it not part of the Intergalactic Alliance? And she worked? Most females on Rhodin chose not to work anymore and hadn't for long before I was born.

She'd clearly been through an ordeal, though, and she didn't need a barrage of questions.

"I am sorry that you were taken from your home," I said quietly.

Her gaze softened. She sat up, wincing with the movement. She moved to stand and moved towards me, shaky.

I frowned. "No, stay on your cot and save your energy."

She shook her head, no.

"We got off on the wrong foot." She took a deep breath. "Hello. My name's Aanya Patel. I'm a human woman from Earth."

We got off on the wrong foot? I looked down at her bare feet and small toes. What wrong foot? And why was her planet named dirt? But evidently, she was reintroducing herself, so I did the same.

"Greetings, Aanya." The name rolled off my tongue, new and unusual. I placed a hand over my chest in a formal greeting. "My name is Ronan, warrior of House Hawke. I am a Rhodinian male from Rhodin." I bowed low, as was expected of me.

Aanya held out a slender hand, uncalloused and smooth. Her hand shook with tremors from when the Szenists hurt her. I wanted to rip out the Szenists' innards and watch them die a slow, painful death for that.

Aanya held her hand close enough to my side of the bars that I could touch her. She seemed like she was waiting for something? Her gaze flickered between her hand and me, seeming to realize I had no idea what she was doing.

"On my planet, we shake hands when we meet people." The corners of her lips curled up.

I stilled, blinking slowly at her. "You touch in greeting?"

"... yes? It's a handshake. It's from like way back when people kept swords and weapons like that, so a handshake meant that you were agreeing not to harm the other. Now it's just polite, but I think the origin is pretty cool. And now I'm rambling." Aanya let out a self-deprecating laugh.

On Rhodin, touch was only allowed within Houses and between mates or during courtship. But if this touching of the hands was a greeting for her, meaning I would not harm her, I would do it.

I grasped her hand, my heart pounding at the honour. It was soft, small, and cold in mine. I bowed my head and dropped to one knee.

"Aanya of House Patel, I swear on my honour as a Rhodinian warrior that I will not harm you and will do everything in my power to protect you from harm."

She said nothing, eyes wide. Aanya just stared at me, mouth hanging open.

I raised my head to look up at her. "Is this not an adequate Earth greeting?"

✶ ☾ ✶

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I love their little cultural/language misunderstandings. What're your thoughts on having dual POVs? Do you like this or would you just prefer Aanya's POV?

Comments and votes are much appreciated.

Virtually yours,

Ro

P.S. wanna listen to music while you read? Check out the book playlist I made! Also, what songs remind you of the story? Comment and let me know so I can add them to the playlist: https://bit.ly/bookplaylist